If you want to design successful user interfaces then you need clear and effective visual communication.Interface Design will help you achieve this using a range of incisive case studies, interviews with professional designers and clear hands-on advice to help you produce user-focused front-end designs for a range of digital media interfaces. This book introduces the majoIf you want to design successful user interfaces then you need clear and effective visual communication.Interface Design will help you achieve this using a range of incisive case studies, interviews with professional designers and clear hands-on advice to help you produce user-focused front-end designs for a range of digital media interfaces. This book introduces the major elements of graphic design for digital media – layout, colour, iconography, imagery and typography, and shows how these visual communication basics can combine to produce positive interactive user experiences. With practical advice on improving communication between designers and developer, and a tantalizing look at designing interactivity for all five senses, this is a must-have introduction to developing interfaces that users will love....more

Community Reviews

The book aims to introduce the basic principles of user interface (UI) design: user experience (UX), information architecture, and graphic design. The author's approach contains a few principles that can be applied to anyone on a development team, including technical writers, but its primary audience is graphic designers.

Wood opens with a chapter on basic user-centered design and the role of a graphic designer within a development team. Chapter 2 introduces information architecture structures thThe book aims to introduce the basic principles of user interface (UI) design: user experience (UX), information architecture, and graphic design. The author's approach contains a few principles that can be applied to anyone on a development team, including technical writers, but its primary audience is graphic designers.

Wood opens with a chapter on basic user-centered design and the role of a graphic designer within a development team. Chapter 2 introduces information architecture structures that can be applied across different interface types (Web sites and video games, for example) and emphasizes iterative planning and testing to refine the information architecture. Chapters 3 and 4 delve specifically into visual communication using elements such as color, layout, and typography and how to transmit messages and branding via those elements. Chapter 5 provides advice for working within a development team, including designing visual elements modularly so they are easier for a programmer to implement across the interface and a range of platforms. The final chapter closes with the implications of emerging technologies on the future of graphic design.

The chapters are divided into short, digestible segments with accompanying illustrations and plenty of whitespace, making the book a quick read. Each chapter ends with an interview with a practitioner whose expertise relates to the current discussion and a case study that showcases the chapter’s advice using a real-world example. For the most part this structure works well, and the case studies are one of the book’s strongest features. However, at times there is an excess of illustrations in the chapters themselves: some images add nothing important, and a few even contradict the principles under discussion.

Another weakness is that the book’s breadth prohibits depth into any single subject. It is impossible to cover every aspect of interface development in a single, short volume. However, the author’s intended audience is graphic designers, and he does succeed in detailing practical advice for that audience, especially in the book’s central chapters.

Some of Wood’s advice applies to anyone involved in developing an interface. He emphasizes focusing on your users’ goals and organizing the information architecture around them from the beginning as well as refining the structure and layout throughout the process using wireframes (diagrams of the basic layout), paper prototyping, and iterative usability testing. Another key tip is “designing for modularity,” or recognizing patterns of content (buttons, logos, background images) that are reused throughout the interface (140). Breaking the design down into repeatable elements makes coding the interface easier and optimizes cross-platform display.

Although this book has something to offer any member of a development team, it would speak best to a graphic designer because of its detailed recommendations and processes. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a general introduction to other aspects of the development process (such as UX and information architecture) and more detailed advice from a graphic design perspective.

*This review was previously published by its author in Technical Communication, the journal of the Society of Technical Communication, May 2016....more

Being a freelance graphic designer for more than 5 years, I decided to read this book in order to understand what UI is all about. This is my first book of UI I have ever read and so my comment would be just one what I learned without comparing to other relevant books. This book is good if you are planning to jump into UI design and so you want to know how things work and what is the role of graphic designer in all this. I enjoyed reading it since it was more directed towards graphic designers aBeing a freelance graphic designer for more than 5 years, I decided to read this book in order to understand what UI is all about. This is my first book of UI I have ever read and so my comment would be just one what I learned without comparing to other relevant books. This book is good if you are planning to jump into UI design and so you want to know how things work and what is the role of graphic designer in all this. I enjoyed reading it since it was more directed towards graphic designers and how they can design good UI's even though it differs from print design. Even though this book tried it best to cover various aspects of UI design process, I felt need for more information.There are no coding or designing tutorials but there are surely some useful info (suggestions) regarding the tools we can use. It also has some interesting interviews + case studies as well as some exercises (which I didnt bother to do since I already have a client's website to work).

I read this book as part of a course in interactive design. I think it is a waste of time for anyone who has some practical experience designing interfaces. Most of the book is written as vague generalities or high-level process overviews.

I expected a book on interface design basics to cover design patterns and some practical considerations. For example: There's a section on mobile and touch screens in the final chapter that focuses mostly on a screens lack of texture. But it fails to mention sI read this book as part of a course in interactive design. I think it is a waste of time for anyone who has some practical experience designing interfaces. Most of the book is written as vague generalities or high-level process overviews.

I expected a book on interface design basics to cover design patterns and some practical considerations. For example: There's a section on mobile and touch screens in the final chapter that focuses mostly on a screens lack of texture. But it fails to mention something simple like ensuring proper sizing and spacing between links....more